Dutch News

lady maya in action. photo: beekse bergen facebookthe beekse bergen safari park south of tilburg has put out an appeal for its american bald eagle, who flew off during a demonstration earlier this week.lady maya, who has been at the zoo for 27 years and has a 2.5 metre wingspan, flew away after what the safari park calls an ‘conflict’ with a group of gulls on tuesday afternoon.people who spot the eagle are being urged not to approach her. ‘she is a tough lady but she can be frightened and fly off again,’ the safari park said.the park’s birds of prey are not kept in cages and can fly away if they want to, spokesman klaas-jan leinenga told the nrc. ‘but they are so attached to their keepers that they never do.’the american bald e...

the number of foreign students doing engineering and technical degrees in the netherlands has never been higher, reports the financieele dagblad on friday.figures released from international education body nuffic show that in the 2017/18 academic year, one in three master’s degree students at the universities of delft, wageningen, eindhoven and enschede comes from abroad.the total number of degree students has risen from 3,751 in 2006 to more than 12,000 in the current academic year, with particularly high numbers from germany, china and india.but the fd puts the numbers in the context of a debate around whether dutch students are being disadvantaged by degree courses offered in english – something the telegraaf called ‘english madness...

gold medalist esmee visser celebrates on the podium. photo: ap photo/vadim ghirdaesmee visser, skating in her first olympics at the age of 21, beat one of the greats of women’s distance speed skating on friday, clinching the 5,000 metres gold medal in a time of 6.50.23‘it is really fantastic, i don’t know what to say,’ visser said after her surprise victory.the czech republic’s martina sábliková, who took the title in 2010 and 2014, won silver and natalia voroni...

the schiphol airport group on friday repeated its now familiar call for new discussions over the 500,000 flight movements cap in place through 2020.the dutch airport, third-largest in europe, effectively reached that limit last year. schiphol ceo jos nijhuis said in the group’s annual earnings statement it is vital to agree now about how schiphol can safely and responsibly continue to grow past 2020.schiphol handled nearly 497,00 takeoffs and landings in 2017 when 68.5 million passengers moved through the amsterdam airport. extra measures were needed to smooth the passenger flow during peak periods.‘this calls for new agreements on the long-term safe, smart and sustain...

photo: greenpeacepolice in the groningen port of lauwersoog have arrested three members of the environmental organisation greenpeace for getting too close to a drilling rig off the coast of the wadden island of schiermonnikoog.the three were taking part in a protest against test drilling for gas but had returned to the mainland because they were seasick in the rough seas, broadcaster nos said.the platform, owned by a company called hansa hydrocarbons, is some 20km into the north sea and was occupied by several greenpeace protesters on thursday.protests are also taking place on the ...

photo: depositphotos.coma family from nieuwegein near utrecht have been ordered by the local mayor to leave their home for three months because of the risk they pose to public safety.two grenades were found in front of the terraced house where the family lives on thursday and last week their home was shot at, prompting the mayor to take action.‘sealing this house is necessary to ensure the safety of the neighbourhood and prevent new occurrences,’ mayor frans backhuijs is quoted as saying by the volkskrant.he said the family understood the decision and will sor...

the dutch parliament is poised to explicitly recognize the murder of 1.5 million christian armenian citizens by the ottoman empire as genocide after a long campaign by christenunie mp joel voordewind.there is also majority support in parliament to send a dutch minister to the commemoration of the armenian genocide in jerevan in april, dutch media said on friday.voordewind is expected to submit a motion on the issue to parliament next week, but is already guaranteed the support of a majority of mps, now the coalition has thrown its weight behind the plan.experts say that the decision will further anger turkey, which already has a fraught relationship with the netherlands.the netherlands rec...

large dutch companies are profiting fully from the drastic reduction of us corporation tax approved at the end of last year, the nrc reported on friday.higher profits from the american operations of dutch multinationals in 2017 ranged from several tens of millions of euros to a whopping €578m for anglo-dutch soups-to-soaps conglomerate unilever, the paper said. insurer aegon was another major beneficiary as it generates more than half of its revenues in the us, the paper said.most large bourse-listed companies had so far not informed investors of the windfalls from their us units.at the end of last year, the us congress approved the proposal by us president donald trump to lower corporate tax to 21% from 35%. the dutch corporate tax rate i...

rotterdam docks. photo: f. berkelaarfewer foreign companies invested in rotterdam in 2017, according to new city council figures. the number of new foreign ventures in the port city fell to 38 last year from 48 in 2016 while 13 firms expanded or extended their operations, the council said.the number of jobs created by these companies was unchanged at about 1,000, but the number of indirect jobs fell sharply to 1,800 from 2,400. but investments rose to €538m (€414m) up considerably from the €65m invested in 2015.most new companies hailed from asia and were largely involved in the maritime...

air france.com via wikimedia commonsa €1.4bn one-off charge to cure airfrance-klm’s pension position pulled the group into the red in 2017. the franco-dutch airline reported net losses of €274m for the year despite strong operating results, it said in a statementon friday.excluding the charge, 2017 net earnings stood at €1.155bn, €363m higher than in 2016. airfrance-klm carried 99 million passengers last year, a 5.6% increase over the previous year. the group’s net debt was reduced by €2bn.‘air france-klm closed 2017 with strong results boosted by a positive business environment. thanks...

the number of foreign students doing technical degrees in the netherlands has never been higher, reports the financieele dagblad on friday.figures released from international education body nuffic show that in the 2017/18 academic year, one in three master’s degree students at the technical universities of delft, wageningen, eindhoven and enschede comes from abroad.the total number of degree students has risen from 3,751 in 2006 to more than 12,000 in the current academic year, with particularly high numbers from germany, china and india.but the fd puts the numbers in the context of a debate around whether dutch students are being disadvantaged by degree courses offered in english – something the telegraaf called ‘english madness’ la...

the government’s key advisory body ser is recommending a shake-up of the current parental leave system in the netherlands.at the moment new mothers get 16 weeks paid leave and fathers two days paid leave, followed by a complicated system of unpaid parental leave (ouderschapsverlof) which can be taken by both parents until a child reaches the age of eight.the ser, made up of employer, union and lay members, says this system should be simplified and funded differently.in order to stimulate more parents to take advantage of parental leave – fathers in particular – ser recommends integrating the various forms of leave into a single system.if this leave is taken within the first six months of a ...

photo: depositphotos.coma 14-year-old boy who has admitted stabbing his parents to death at the family farmhouse in last year, should be given the maximum sentence under juvenile law, the public prosecutor has told a closed court session.this means the boy would spend a year in a juvenile prison, followed by treatment in a psychiatric prison.no more details about the case have been made public and it is unclear what motivated the boy to attack his mother and father at their home.the bodies of the 63...

photo: depositphotos.comthe netherlands will not give out any permits for the exploration for shale gas in the netherlands, economic affairs minister erik wiebes has confirmed to parliament.‘shale gas is not an option in the netherlands any more,’ wiebes said. ‘we are not doing it. it is over and done with.’the previous economic affairs minister henk kamp introduced a five-year moratorium on drilling for shale gas which expires in 2020.shale gas is ordinary natural gas that has been trapped in dense shale beds deep underground. it is extracted using a contr...

a major row has erupted in the dutch skating world over who leaked what to the volkskrant newspaper about the formal warning for race fixing given to jorrit bergsma’s coach at the sochi olympics.the volkskrant reported on thursday morning that jillert anema, who was coaching the french team pursuit team in 2014, had tried to get the dutch team to slow the pace in their race so as not to threaten the french team’s funding.anema also coaches jorrit bergsma, who was defending his olympic 10 kilometre speed skating title later in the day and skating fans were furious about the timing of the publication.in the event, bergsma lost the title to canada’s ted-jan bloemen. sven kramer, bergsma’s arch rival who had been hoping to take the gold ...

the three dutch financial institutions reporting 2017 earnings on friday were all upbeat about their results.rabobank reported a 33% surge in net earnings propelled by all its operations in the netherlands and abroad. aegon restored its flagging dutch operations with a €1bn cash injection from its us unit and nn said it had started to integrate its delta-lloyd acquisition successfully into its existing businesses.utrecht-based rabobank reported net profit soared by more than 32% to €2.7bn in 2017 as costs declined significantly. the co-op said both its dutch and international operations contributed to the strong growth in earnings.positive economic developments in the netherlands, flourishing food and agrarian markets and lower taxes als...

jorrit bergsma after his race. photo: belga photo dirk waem / hhdefending olympic champion jorrit bergsma had to be content with the silver medal in the men’s 10 kilometre speed skating event on thursday, even though he set a new olympic record during his heat.the gold went to ted-jan bloemen of canada in a time of 12.39.77, just under that of bergsma and, therefore, a second new olympic record of the event. the bronze went to italy’s nicola tumolero.sven kramer finished a disappointing sixth. ‘i felt from the word go that things were not right,’ the 31-year-old told broadcaster nos after the race. ‘i’ve done everything i co...

photo: depositphotos.coma dutch skating coach, who was coaching the french team pursuit team at the sochi olympics in 2014, tried to get the dutch team to slow the pace in their race, the volkskrant said on wednesday.jillert anema was given an official warning by the dutch olympic committee noc*nsf for trying to influence the race in order to protect the french team’s sponsorship, the paper said.the dutch sports body has confirmed that anema was given a written warning about his behaviour in sochi.anema is said to have approached the dutch pursuit team coach arie koops and asked him not to let his squad skate too fast be...

photo: depositphotos.comsome six in 10 dutch women under the age of 40 would prefer to see a female doctor for intimate issues such as cervical smears, according to research by women’s magazine libelle and the dutch patients’ federation.over 25% of all women would rather have a female doctor altogether, but this rises to 40% for specifically female issues such as period pain, the research showed.much of this is due to embarrassment about their bodies and one in eight women will delay a vi...

photo: depositphotos.comquiz and reality shows such as een tegen 100 and bed & breakfast are on a list of public television programmes which could get the axe under the new media law, the telegraaf said on thursday.the paper used freedom of information legislation to find out which shows don’t attract sufficient ‘hard to reach’ viewers and are included on a culture ministry black list of programmes which could be for the chop.the previous cabinet tightened up the rules for public broadcasters, saying they can only produce light entertainment shows if they attrac...